Race for Mayor Continues

Election Day is over but Annise Parker and Gene Locke aren't done campaigning. The two leading mayoral candidates will go head to head in a run-off election on December twelfth. Laurie Johnson reports on what's in store on the mayoral campaign trail.

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Rice University Political Scientist Bob Stein says the results of the mayoral race are surprising, but not shocking.

"Our own poll showed that Peter Brown's support, although broad, was very shallow and somewhat less than strong. I think the big surprise here is Roy Morales. He took 19-20 percent of the vote and it's very clear he took a big chunk of the moderate to conservative Republicans from Peter Brown."

Now Parker and Locke are left to duke it out over the next six weeks. Stein says each candidate will work to motivate their dedicated base of support, and also pick up votes from the Roy Morales and Peter Brown camps.

"I think this is the kind of mayoral race we're going to see in the future. It's a departure from the past. In the past, we've had strong partisan candidates like Orlando Sanchez, Bill White, Lee Brown. We've had candidates that have drawn from both their idealogical and partisan base as well as race and ethnicity. This is the kind of race we're likely to see in the future."

Annise Parker is the former Houston Controller and a former councilmember. Gene Locke is a former city attorney and has long been involved in Houston and Harris County business dealings.